LOUISVILLE, KY – “Apple is getting closer to offering mobile
payments — a lot closer,” wrote Mobile Payments Today earlier this week.
Apple’s timeframe, of course, is a relative one. “They don’t
do things in a hurry, and they don’t take on much at one time,” the tech news
site noted.
The company that brought us everything “i”-related may not
rollout an NFC capable iPhone, since that technology hasn’t yet caught on.
Rather, “whatever Apple does in mobile payments will be something different,”
MPT speculated.
Why? Apple has multiple payment-related patents, and the
company has already made inroads into commerce on a mobile device. “In an Apple
Store you can use an app, make an appointment, find a product and pay for it,
all from you mobile device,” MPT said.
With Apple’s Passbook app now getting QR code scanning
capabilities with the to-be-released iOS 7, the company’s purchase of a
fingerprint recognition company last summer and 575 million iTunes accounts, “you
can be sure Apple is working hard on finding the easiest and most elegant way
to make use of them,” MPT said.
To be successful in the space requires merchants, and Apple
offers key selling points: its iPhone users spend 30% more than Android users, and they’re
wealthier, too, characteristics that are appealing to retailers. Furthermore,
they’re a highly trusted brand, as evidenced by the number of consumers who
already have given the company their credit card details.
“Using some of their many patents and all of their design
ability, you could have devices that make it easy to research, shop, and pay
for things, all from a mobile device. That could help sell a lot of devices,”
the article concluded.